


Creampuff Week

by LastStopTillLondon



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-11
Updated: 2015-01-17
Packaged: 2018-03-07 04:22:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3161039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LastStopTillLondon/pseuds/LastStopTillLondon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>My fics for Creampuff Week</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Hot Chocolate and Gingerbread

**Author's Note:**

> Contains a flashback to when LaFontaine identified as Susan

“Hey!” Perry exclaimed as a snowball hit her back. She quickly made a small snowball in her mitten covered hands and turned around. LaFontaine quickly ducked behind a mound of snow to hide but lost their balance, falling over into plane sight. “Susan! Stop throwing snowballs at me!” she yelled, throwing the snow in her hand. It didn’t get very far, despite throwing it as hard as she could.

“You suck at throwing,” LaFontaine stood up, scrunching their nose.

“You’re suppose to be making the body for the snowman. _Not_ pelting me with snowballs,” Perry put her hands on her hips.

“But I wanna have some fuuun,” LaFontaine whined, draping themselves over the large snowball they had made for the snowman.

“This _is_ fun,”

“But I’m done and I can’t take this waiting,”

“Fine. Then help me put the head on,” Perry turned around to the smaller mound of snow.

LaFontaine quickly rushed over and helped place the head on their snowman. The head was a lot smaller than the body, which Perry complained about for a while, until they added all the clothes for the snowman. It was fit with a jacket, mittens, a scarf, and hat. The two admired their work for a few seconds before looking at each other and bursting out laughing. Their snowman was a complete mess.

"Should we try again?" Perry asked through a giggle.

"Hmmmm... Nah," LaFontaine bent down and grabbed a bit of snow. "I'd rather do _this_ ," they said as they threw the snow at Perry before running away.

"Susan!" Perry yelled before running after them with a snowball in each hand.

They ran around the yard flinging snowballs at each other amongst giggles and trying to not trip in the deep snow.

LaFontaine-being the graceful swan that they are-tripped backwards into some of the deep snow. They tried to get up but the snow was too deep and their leg was stuck. Perry took her chance and grabbed as much snow as she could hold in her arms.

"Oh, no! Perry, _no!_ " LaFontaine giggled.

"I keep telling you, my name is Lola,"

She took careful steps over to LaFontaine and dropped the snow right on top of them.

"Well at least you hit me this time,"

"You're gonna get another bunch of snow for that. But on your face this time," she threatened as she turned to get more.

As she turned, she took a wrong step and sunk into the snow, falling backwards right next to LaFontaine.

"Now we're both stuck," LaFontaine scrunched their nose again.

They didn't really try to get up. Instead, they stared at the darkening sky. The beautiful pinks and oranges slowly turned to dark purples and blues. Soon, the main light that lit up the backyard was the lights hung around the porch and the light from the kitchen window.

"My leg is really cold," Perry stated, trying to move it.

"Did you know you can get frostbite from being out in the cold too long?" LaFontaine looked at Perry.

"The frost can bite?" Perry shot a concerned look back only to earn a laugh.

"No. You just get so cold that you can't warm back up again. Your skin turns black then they have to cut it off,"

"Why would you tell me that, you weirdo!" Perry frowned and sat up, trying to get her leg out of the snow.

"It wouldn't happen to us!" LaFontaine defended, trying to sit up but the snow on their chest weighed them down. "We've got jackets and snow pants on,"

Perry successfully managed to stand up and pulled her leg out of the snow. "Either way, I'm not taking any chances,"

"Little help, Perry?" LaFontaine reached their hand out.

 _"Lola._ My name is Lola, weirdo," Perry took LaFontaine's hand, pulling them up.

"Yeah, I know. But you don't really seem like a Lola," LaFontaine shrugged, pulling their leg out of the snow.

"What do I seem like then?"

"A Perry," LaFontaine smiled before their other leg sank into the snow.

The two laughed again, quickly getting out of the snow and sitting on the porch. Perry pulled her hat down farther to cover her ears more before covering her nose with her scarf.

LaFontaine looked over at Perry. Looking at the way her fire red curls escaped from her hat and spilled down over her back. Looking at how she was staring at the last hint of light on the horizon. How her scarf was hiding the faintest of freckles that dotted her cheeks. Something was different between them. They couldn't place it, but Perry had a bigger place in their heart than just a best friend. The door opening broke the moment.

"Girls? Wanna come in for some hot cocoa? There are some cookies that you can eat," Mrs. Perry smiled at them.

"Yeah!" They rushed up and ran inside together.

" _Susan!_ Take off those boots! You're tracking snow right through the kitchen!" Mrs. Perry scolded but it was hard to stay mad at their excited yet apologetic expression.

\--

"Remember that one time when we were kids and we made that _awful_ snowman?" LaFontaine questioned as Perry brought another round of hot chocolate.

"It wasn't _that_ bad," Perry sat down next to them.

"Oh, yes. It was bad," LaFontaine wrapped their cold fingers around the warm mug.

"How bad was it?" Laura questioned, tugging at her scarf. She had warmed up enough (now starting to get a little too warm) since they came in from outside but there were hideous black and blue patches covering most of her neck.

" _Bad_ ," LaFontaine snorted. "It's head was leaning one way and one of its arms were higher up," they tried to mine out how it looked. "And it was wearing the oldest jacket with a neon hat..." They scrunched their nose a bit. "At least the eyes were okay,"

"What's the point of snowmen again?" Carmilla questioned.

Laura and LaFontaine shrugged at the same time.

"I think that was the time you officially started calling me Perry," Perry hooked her arm around LaFontaine's as she took a small sip of her coco.

"No, that was the time you stopped trying to correct me,"

"Same thing,"

"You're _still_ afraid of frostbite," LaFontaine turned to Perry, smiling a little.

"And you still fall in the snow," Perry turned to LaFontaine, a grin pulling at her lips.

LaFontaine grinned back and kissed her gently, remembering that feeling they felt on the porch that night.

A knock at the door made them pull away, still smiling at each other.

"I got it," Perry said softly with a big dopey grin.

She stood up and walked out to the door, LaFontaine watching her go with the same dopey grin on their face.

"I remember when I was a kid, me and my brothers made this _awesome_ snowman," Kirsch lighted up, telling his story.

"Oh, Danny!" Perry greeted, opening the door wider for her to come in.

"Yeah, sorry I'm late," she sniffled a bit as she stepped in. "I brought food, though,"

"Great! Just hang up your coat and leave your boots with the others. Everyone's in the kitchen,"

"Okay, thanks," Danny said, slipping off her jacket and handing Perry the food. "You've got a very beautiful house, Perry,"

"Thank you!" Perry scuttled off to the kitchen, laying the food with the other platters. Danny joined the group a little bit later, smiling as she saw the faces that she hadn't seen in months.

"Hey guys," she greeted, taking a seat by Kirsch.

"So what'd you bring, Summer Psycho?" Kirsch grinned, reaching for the still wrapped platter.

Danny rolled her eyes at the old nickname. "Just a bunch of cookies," she shrugged.

"Ooo! What kinds?" Laura excitedly snatched the platter from Kirsch.

"Some snickerdoodles, some oreo balls, and some gingerbread,"

"Yesssss," Laura nearly bounced from excitement as she unwrapped the platter, shoving a snicker doodle in her face.

LaFontaine and Perry looked at each other, both scrunching their noses. After that run in with the gingerbread witch a few years ago, neither could stomach ginger bread anymore. They looked at each other for a few seconds before bursting out laughing like they were kids again in the backyard, playing in the snow.

 


	2. A Trip to the Lake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The prompt is actually Ocean but a lake is still a large body of water... right?

With a sigh, Carmilla flipped the page of her book. The place was beautiful, but this wasn't her thing (somehow getting dragged into all this) and she was glad that Laura let her read. Her body was covered heavily with sunscreen and she was wearing sunglasses. She wore a bikini but wore really short black shorts, that was a little better than the bottoms of her swimsuit, over it.

Carmilla still didn't know exactly how she got conned into this but she couldn't leave now. Not with everyone here like this. She might have been okay with this if it was just her and Laura but everyone just _had_ to come along.

Laura's dad had owned a cabin up in the mountains on a lake, which sounded like a romantic trip. It probably would have if everyone _else_ wasn't here. She looked up from her book when she heard a scream, watching the others mess around.

Laura, LaFontaine, Danny, _and_ Kirsch (which was three too many people) were all playing king of the hill in the raft a little ways out from the beach where Carmilla sat. She watched as Laura (who looked damn good in her bikini) pushed Kirsch off as he was preoccupied with trying to get Danny off. Her lips pulled in a prideful half smile for a second. LaFontaine was climbing up on the raft, quickly reaching for Laura's ankle. Carmilla just rolled her eyes, not understanding the point of constantly pushing people into the water. Her eyes turned to Perry, who was laying on the dock. Perry just laid there, reading as well, and working on a little tan but occasionally looked up at the loud group in the raft.

Carmilla just didn't understand what was so fun so she returned to her book, quickly getting absorbed in it. She hadn't even noticed the people approaching her. Before she could even realize what was going on, she was in the air.

Danny and Kirsch held her arms and LaFontaine and Laura had her legs, easily lifting the struggling vampire up in the air.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Carmilla yelled, trying to get out of everyone's grip.

"It's time for a little dip," Danny grinned, a bit too happy about this.

" _No!_ " Carmilla struggled more but she could barely do anything if she didn't want to get dropped on her ass.

The four carried the angry vampire off the beach and onto the deck.

"What in the world is going on?" Perry stood up, watching the scene play out.

"Grumpy kitty needs a bath," LaFontaine chuckled as they passed the wild haired girl.

"Put me _down!_ " Carmilla growled.

"Okay, ready guys?" Kirsch smiled at everyone before they all took her by the wrists and ankles.

They swung her back and forth, gaining momentum whilst counting to three before they let her go, flying into the lake. The four laughed, hearing the vampire nearly scream. After a few seconds, she broke the surface of the water, glaring at them.

"I _swear_ you all are just overgrown children!"

"Oh, come on. It's fun!" Kirsch smiled at Carmilla, ignoring her low growling.

Danny and LaFontaine shared a plotting glance, suddenly thinking the same thing. LaFontaine pointed from Danny to Kirsch then them to Laura.

"Oh, really? Maybe you should join her then!" Danny said as she shoved Kirsch and LaFontaine pushed Laura off the dock into the water, creating a splash that also hit Carmilla.

The two laughed and slapped each other's hand. Then, by surprise, LaFontaine shoved Danny off the dock.

"Ugh! Traitor!" Danny laughed as soon as she came to the surface of the water but LaFontaine was just laughing.

"I don't understand all this. I mean, someone could get hurt," Perry chimed in, getting a little motherly.

"Oh, come on, Perr. It's fun," LaFontaine said, turning around to look at her.

"Really? Just shoving people in is _fun?_ "

"Yeah," LaFontaine chuckled.

"And you just shove people? Like _this?_ " Perry grinned and pushed LaFontaine. She didn't push hard enough for them to instantly go in the water but it set them off balance so they fell back into the water. Perry couldn't help but burst out laughing. "You're right, that is fun!"

Once LaFontaine came to the surface, they glanced over at Danny and the two just nodded. They swam back to shore and walked down the dock towards Perry.

"Wh-what are you doing?" Perry asked, turning around and her smile falling.

"Oh, nothing," LaFontaine shrugged, their hands behind their back.

"Yeah, nothing," Danny grinned, her hands behind her back too.

"No," Perry smiled, trying to ease the mood. "No, no, no," her smile fell as she was slowly being cornered. She quickly, and stupidly, tried to run past the two. They caught her quickly and rushed her to the end of the dock. "No, no, no, no, no, no!" Perry protested, struggling to get free, but they didn't listen.

With two grins and a scream, Perry was thrown into the water. The two slapped each other's hands again, laughing at Perry's wild curls that were somewhat flattened by the water. Danny grinned then pushed LaFontaine into the water before diving in herself.

"You're gonna get it, LaFontaine!" Perry shouted, swimming towards the two that threw her in.

"Only if you catch me first!" LaFontaine grinned, turning to swim back to the raft.

Danny swam along side them, not really wanting to be caught by an angry Perry. Kirsch followed just behind Perry, not wanting to miss out on the next round of king of the hill.

By this time, Carmilla had swam to the shore and stomped out of the water, yelling about getting stuck with splashing toddlers. Laura quickly rushed after her.

"Carm, wait!" Laura ran to where Carmilla was drying herself off. "Come on, we were just fooling around. Don't go just yet,"

Carmilla was about to give in, not able to say no to Laura's puppy dog eyes when she wanted something, but all that got interrupted by whip cracking sounds being made from the raft.

" _UGH!_ " Carmilla groaned, flipping the people on the raft off before stomping up to the cabin with Laura in tow.

 


	3. Picnic

Perry sighed and set her pencil on the desk. She slumped forward over her textbook, tracing small circles into her temples. _'Is this ever gonna end?'_ She thought, letting her head fall back.

A knock at the door made Perry's head snap right up and turn to the noise, instantly going into floor don mode despite her creeping headache. Just as she was about to get up, the door opened. Perry smiled at the sheepish ginger that walked into their room.

"Hey LaFontaine,"

"Hey Perr. You busy?" They asked.

"I guess," Perry shrugged.

"You guess?"

"Well, I've been studying for about..." She paused to glance at a clock. "Two hours now,"

"Great, let's take a break,"

"A break? Lafontaine, I have a test in a few days and-"

"Seriously, Perr? You've been studying most of your nights away the past week and a half. When's the last time you took a break?" They crossed their arms.

"Easy! I took a break..." Her eyes darted across the room as if the answer was hiding somewhere she couldn't see. "Well... I made some tea yesterday,"

"That's not a break, Perr,"

"Okay," she shifted in her chair, her eyes going back to LaFontaine. "So, what did you have in mind?"

"Well, I was thinking... Maybe you'd like to go on a picnic?"

"A picnic? It's been a while since we've had a picnic,” she smiled faintly, remembering the last time they had a picnic. “Who's all coming?"

"No one. It'll be just us,"

"Really?"

"Yep. No Laura, no Carmilla, no Danny. Just us,"

"I don't know, Lafontaine. I've got to study," Perry shrugged.

"Oh, come on. Your book will still be here when we get back. You can study then,"

"I-I don't know-"

"Come on, Perr. It'll be fun," Lafontaine could see that Perry was going to try to dodge the offer again. "You're coming with me or else! And you don't wanna _know_ what I've got stored for _'or_ _else'_ ,"

Perry sighed, knowing she'd lose this argument. "Okay, fine,"

"Yes!" Lafontaine beamed.

"So, when are we going?"

"Right now,"

"R-right now?"

"Yeah. Pack up a book and some blankets, we're going on a picnic!" Lafontaine smiled, reaching for a blanket.

\--

"Aaaand we're here," Lafontaine smiled, setting down the basket and pulling out one of the blankets. They laid it down under a big tree to shield the sun from their eyes.

They had led the two into the woods next to Silas, up in the mountains a bit. It wasn't too far into the woods but it was enough to call it a hike. Perry looked around the clearing, breathing a little heavily from the trek up here.

"It's nice..." Perry muttered, going to sit down on the blanket.

"I know, right? Found this place on a field experiment," they sat down right next to Perry.

"How long have you been planning this?" Perry knitted her brows lightly but with a small smile on her face.

Lafontaine shrugged. "Does it have to be planned? Can't I just take you out on a picnic dinner without reason?"

"Yeah, I guess," Perry laughed a little, smoothing a few wrinkles on the fabric. "But, the food was all ready and in a basket before I even left the room,"

"Okay, so I planned it. But that's not the point," Lafontaine reached into the basket, pulling out sandwiches already cut into triangles. "Sandwich?"

"Thank you," Perry smiled and took one.She looked it over a little before biting into it. One chew was enough. She scrunched her face a bit. "You made this, didn't you?" She giggled a little, using a hand to shield anything from flying out of her mouth.

"Yeah..." Lafontaine rubbed the back of their head. "I'm not the best at cooking, you know that,"

"Did you make everything?"

"No! Gosh, no. I only made the sandwiches. Danny and Laura helped with the cake and Carmilla picked out the strawberries-"

"Cake? You baked a cake?" Perry's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Well, I thought it'd make a nice dessert," Lafontaine shrugged.

Perry rolled her eyes. "You're such a weirdo,"

The two ate and talked for a while until they laid back, feeding each other the strawberries. Once most of the food was gone, Perry pulled out their books. They laid down, partially over each other, and read as they finished the last few strawberries.

They read just enjoying each other's company as the world around them dissolved. It was just those two. On a blanket. Under a tree. With the slightest taste of strawberries lingering on their tongues. Lafontaine looked up a few times to steal glances at Perry, whose face and body was decorated beautifully by the light coming through the leaves. Perry didn't notice. She hadn't even noticed the last few rays of sunlight slipping below the horizon. The only thing that alerted her was the chorus of crickets beginning to play the night into existence.

"Whoa, when did it get so late?" Perry looked up from her book, glancing around the clearing.

Lafontaine looked up too, knitting their brows. "I don't know..." They closed their book slowly, listening to the crickets as he fireflies began to dance to their melodies. "Oh, we should get going. I have another place we can go visit,"

"Another?" Perry closed her book. "Lafontaine, I've got to study,"

"Come on, Perr. We haven't eaten the cake yet,"

Perry sighed and put her book away, giving up the argument already.

\--

"I don't see why we couldn't have just eaten it in our room," Perry said, clinging to the window.

"Come on, Perr, it's fine," Lafontaine inched closer to the edge before laying out the blanket again.

"B-be careful," Perry stuttered as she let go of the window and creeped closer to Lafontaine.

"Here, lemme help," Lafontaine rushed to Perry, grabbing her hands and guiding her down the roof to the blanket.

They sat down, over looking the whole campus as the stars looked over them.

"Wow..." Perry breathed. "It looks so different from up here..."

"Yeah... I like coming up here sometimes," Lafontaine leaned back on their hands, out stretching their legs.

"Can anyone see us?"

"If they looked, which they usually don't. And we're wearing dark clothing," Lafontaine smiled a little, looking down at a few people crossing the quad. "Oh! Wanna eat the cake now? I haven't tried it yet,"

"Yeah, sure," Perry smiled, carefully re situating herself.

Lafontaine dug out the cake from the basket. The cake was beautifully decorated, or at least from what they could see through the dim lighting from the other buildings and light posts that lit up the main walk ways. Only a fourth of the cake was sitting on the plate, making Perry wonder what the full cake looked like.

"I forgot to bring more plates..." Lafontaine stated quietly, digging around in the basket.

"That's okay. Do you have forks?"

"That, I do have," Lafontaine smiled, pulling out two forks.

Perry took one and grabbed a bit of the cake. She smiled and reached it towards Lafontaine. "Let me feed you,"

Lafontaine smiled and took a bit of the cake with their fork. They leaned forward, reaching it out to Perry's mouth.

The two opened their mouths, eating the bites off each other's forks. Lafontaine chewed carefully, watching Perry's reaction. She chewed a few times before smiling.

"It's really good!" Perry reached for more.

Lafontaine laughed a bit. They knew she didn't really like sweets, unless it was the holidays, so they made sure it was made with her favorite mints. The two sat on top of the roof, feeding each other the (amazingly well made) cake. It was gone all too soon but they were satisfyingly full.

Perry leaned her head on LaFontaine’s shoulder with a content sigh, looking out over the large campus. LaFontaine pulled out their phone, looking at the time.

“Got someplace to be?” Perry raised a brow, sitting up straight.

“No… I was just looking at the time. There’s a meteor shower tonight,”

“So that explains why the astrology club was setting up all day,”

“Hey,” LaFontaine grinned mischievously, grabbing a rock about the size of their hand from the basket and holding it up to show Perry. “Think I can land this on their table down there?”

“ _LaFontaine, no_ ,” Perry’s eyes widened.

“Oh, come on,” LaFontaine slumped their shoulders. “I picked this rock out special,” they wined.

“LaFontaine,” Perry tilted her head in that motherly scolding way.

“Perr-”

She tilted her head a little more. “ _No_ ,” she said firmly, reaching out for the rock.

LaFontaine let out a sigh and handed her the rock. “You’re no fun,” they grumbled.

“No, I meant,” she paused, placing the rock down and digging in her pocket for a bunch of smaller rocks she had picked up on their way up and back from the clearing. “You might hurt someone with that big of a rock. Use these,”

“Aw, hell yeah!” LaFontaine grinned, grabbing them quickly.

They stood up and started throwing them down at the astrology club’s small tent, where they knew that their president was lounging like he always did. It took a few tries but they finally started hitting things like the table, a few members body’s, then finally the tent. The president came storming out, looking as angry as one his size could look. The two held in their laughter as LaFontaine kept throwing rocks. A few members, probably freshmen, ran into the tent for protection.

The astrology club were looking around wildly, trying to find the source of the incoming attacks. A few of the members were circling the telescopes, trying to protect them from what might hit them. Perry couldn’t hold back her laughs anymore, letting her head fall back as her laugh rang out. LaFontaine threw the last rock, hitting the president square in the cheek. They laughed out too at how angry he was getting. Their obnoxious laughter alerted the club.

“It’s one of the lab rats!” one of the members, who LaFontaine recognized as the vice president, shouted out.

“LaFontaine!” the president yelled, sounding pretty angry for the shrill voice that he had. “You’re gonna pay for this!”

“Oh yeah, Duncan? What are you gonna do? _Map_ me to death?” The two redheads laughter subsided, a smile staying on LaFontaine’s face. Perry knew what was going on, the feud between the astrology majors and bio majors had been boiling since their freshman year at Silas, and she opened her mouth to stop LaFontaine before it went too far but Duncan cut her off.

“At least I don’t make bombs in my garage!” he shouted, his face growing redder and redder with anger.

“Well, at least _I’m_ an actual scientist,” they yelled back, flipping the club president off.

“That’s it!” his shrill voice echoed throughout campus as he stamped his foot. He and most of the club took off running towards the building LaFontaine and Perry were sitting on top of.

“Umm,” Perry’s voice wavered, nervousness shooting through their body. “LaFontaine? H-How are we getting down?”

Their smile faded and turned to Perry, looking her dead in the eyes. “We’re gonna have to jump,”

“ _WHAT?!_ ”

“I’m kidding!” they smiled a little. “But hurry or we’re gonna have to,”

 


	4. Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bit of angst to end Creampuff week off with

_… Beep beep…_

"Hey, where’s Perry?" A voice questioned. It was soft, having to travel through a few empty rooms before it reached her ears. She didn’t bother to figure out who spoke.

"I think she’s out looking at the stars," a second voice answered.

A soft sigh. “We should get to bed. It’s late,”

Was it late? She didn’t even know. Time was weird. It kept moving when she wanted it to stop. Even if only for a second.

_…. Beep beep…_

Perry had trouble staying awake. She spent all her time staring up at the sky and even when she wasn’t, she might as well be. It’s been ages since she seemed to be completely there. Yes, her body was there but her mind… that was else where.

Sometimes her mind wandered back to the blissful memories from childhood. Sometimes it wandered to funny moments. Sometimes it would remember the bad times. The times they never got reconciliation over. That’s when tears would brim her eyes. But whenever that happened, she just turned her face to the sky.

_…. Beep.. Beep beep…._

She let her mind wander, never feeling so alone yet she didn’t feel lonely. Looking up at the stars, she would never feel lonely. Outside had noises and breezes, it was quiet but it was never  _truly_  quiet. There was always a cricket or two singing at each other or the leaves would crash into each other, making percussive melodies that filled the air.

“ _Perry,_ ” She jumped a little, turning around to see the small brunette with a blanket draped over her shoulders. Laura must have been saying her name a few times to have had that tone. “Perry, it’s late. You need some sleep,”

“I know…” she breathed, looking down.

“The sun’s going to rise soon. Let’s get you up to bed,” Laura set a hand on Perry’s shoulder and lead the half-asleep, curly haired girl up the stairs. She opened the door, letting Perry shuffle in before grabbing the door knob. “Hey, Perry?”

“Yes?”

“Just… Know that we’re here for you,” Laura gave a sympathetic smile.

“… Thanks… for taking me in. Especially with all this… stuff that happened a while ago-,”

“No problem,” Laura stopped her. She could hear Perry’s voice about to break.

“Thanks…” Perry forced a smile back as Laura shut the door.

_… Beep… Beep…._

She quickly shuffled over to the window, opening it to let in the noises from outside. Unlike outside, inside was quiet. It was  _always_  quiet unless there was someone else there. Anything else (music, tv, even reading) just reminded her of the empty space that followed her like a shadow.

Laying down on the bed, she stared out the window. It was too far. The sounds outside were too quiet. Inside was too quiet. Her ears rang so loud she had to cover her ears. It sounded too much like…  _that_  noise. She had just barely been able to get the noise out of her head, now she was starting to think that it would haunt her forever.

_… Beep beep…_

She wiped away a tear but tried to keep a strong face. Looking down at their friend… Like this… It wasn’t suppose to be like this… Not so soon. The slowing rhythm of the beeping not helping the tears Perry was fighting back.

“I hope…” They whispered gruffly like they had just woken up from sleep, but Perry knew better. They were weak and trying to stay awake. “When you look up at the stars…” A long, strained breath. “You know that they… are all me in different lives…” Another. “Trying to find you,”

_.. Beep… Beep…_

Perry nearly laughed. “That’s so poetic,” She smiled through her brimming tears. It was nearly as painful for her as she was sure it was for LaFontaine.

"I know, I stole it. But… it’s my wish for you. Look at the stars… and know I’ll be watching," They smiled as best as they could.

“I thought you didn’t believe in stuff like that,” Perry stroked their arm slowly.

_… Beep……… beep…_

“Well… being this close to kicking it…” Another strained breath. “It’s made me realize… that there must be something.” Another. “There’s no way I could leave you…” they reached their hand up slowly. It was so difficult to lift it through the pain that their arm was shaking. It took a few seconds, but it finally touched Perry’s cheek. “Not forever…” they smiled that crooked smile that Perry loved so much. Their eyes grew out of focus, like they were looking past Perry.

“No, not yet,” She grasped LaFontaine’s hand. Their eyes glanced around, like they were trying to find something, until they fell shut. “ _No_ ,” She watched their chest struggle to keep breathing. “ _No,_  no. No, no, no, no,” Perry squeezed LaFontaine’s hand, a tear falling from her cheek. “No, you can’t go…” The smile faded from LaFontaine’s face. They looked so tired and Perry hoped that they were just sleeping.

_… Beep beep… beep…. beep……. beep….._

The monitor let out a long, low, continuous beep. It was the saddest noise Perry had ever heard.


End file.
